


A Midwinter Night's Family Meet-Cute

by b0nes



Series: Here Lies Fireteam Maelstrom, Survived By The Exodus Family & Associates [2]
Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: that's it that's the whole thing, two homies meet in a creepy hallway
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:21:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27812203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/b0nes/pseuds/b0nes
Summary: Wolf-16 meets the first member of the Exodus Family, Puck-13, and accidentally gets adopted.
Series: Here Lies Fireteam Maelstrom, Survived By The Exodus Family & Associates [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2026865
Kudos: 6





	A Midwinter Night's Family Meet-Cute

**Author's Note:**

> no warnings for this one! just wolf being wolf and puck being puck.  
> puck-13 and oberon belong to my friend, not me.

Wolf-16 collapsed against the wall with an exhausted sigh as Vex carcasses sparked and sizzled across the once-upon-a-time polished metal floor of Bray Exoscience. He spun Ace over his fingers and reloaded the clip, and let his feet slide slowly out from under him. "Well, this has been exhausting... Red, you around?"  
"Of course I am," his Ghost chirped, materializing in his open palm. She narrowed her eye in annoyance, "And stop calling me Red, the bit wasn't funny to begin with, and I still haven't gotten a red shell."  
Wolf-16 gave her a little twirl with his fingertip and his voice carried a cheeky grin, "I just haven't found one that fits your firecracker personality."  
When she reoriented herself again she took stock of the mess her Guardian had left in his wake with an annoyed but relenting sigh, just to check for any bodies that might rattle back to life while he wasn't looking. "I told you I liked that special Crimson Days shell but you were preoccupied with not wanting to go to the City."  
"Demanding..."  
"Rude!" Serenity whipped back, the antennae on her shell bobbling as she focused sharply on him. "Anyway, are you doing alright?" Her decidedly black and cyan and _not red_ shell spun as she bobbed with another mechanical chirp and Wolf shrugged a shoulder. She mimicked the motion as best she could, which is to say she did a sort of rocking gesture with her entire shell and asked, "What does _[wobble]_ mean?"  
"That _means_ I could go for a nap and a nice hot bath right about now. How many times do I have to be splashed with Vex milk before I start going all crazy, anyway?" He paused for Serenity to make a properly disgusted sound at his phrasing. "This place sucks in a major way, Seren, why would anyone want to live here?"  
"Well, when you're out of options, anywhere with solid ground is as good as home..." Serenity settled on Wolf's knee after he bent his leg, still facing him. "This should be a good place to take a break, though. I'm not picking up anything on my radar that's close enough to be a concern for now, and I can wake you up before it gets too close."  
"S'what I like to hear," Wolf purred, tilting his head back and pulling his hood down over his eyes. He folded his arms across his stomach and settled for a nap, sinking further to the floor. "Don't let me sleep too long, alright, we still have some snoopin' to do before we call it a day."  
"Of course!" Serenity lifted up from her perch and bobbed in affirmation before diving into his hood and nestling against the curve of his neck.

  
Wolf had been asleep for about an hour when Serenity heard gunfire a few rooms away that pierced the eerie silence. He didn't so much as twitch, but when she felt the light of another Guardian and decided not to wake her own. Unsurprisingly, he hadn't gotten much sleep since arriving, and this new Dark power he held seemed to only make his dreams worse. She wanted him to get all the shut-eye he could manage.  
Still, she kept an eye out. The long antennae on her shell twitched like mouse whiskers as she watched shadows approach down the hall and Wolf's head shifted at the tickle against his neck.  
"You're sure this is the right direction?" one of the voices asked.  
"Yes," said the other, as though he'd answered this question a good dozen times already. "Straight through here and then there's another right at the far end."  
The other Guardian, to Serenity, felt like a dazzling well of warmth and light as he got closer. A Warlock! How exciting. "I dunno, we keep going up but I'm not seeing any out and all of these dead Exos are getting to be a huge bummer," he said.  
Serenity watched the Warlock stride into view, holding a rifle in one hand and cradling his Ghost in the other. They both gleamed in the slightly off lighting and the Warlock looked up in their direction with an almost defeated gesture. "See? Look at this guy. I'm bummed now, Obe. This is me, bummed."  
Serenity sent a greeting ping to the other Ghost, along with a small message to let him know her Guardian was just asleep and not dead, and maybe see if that huge be-limbed doofus can quiet down a little, please.

  
The Guardian approached with a small sigh and kneeled down beside Wolf, setting his rifle on the ground. It seemed to Serenity like he was exactly as tired of all this shit as Wolf was. The Ghost in his company bobbed around to check out the scene but didn't seem keen on relaying Serenity's message to his Guardian, and Serenity found it hard not to laugh. How could he possibly mistake a fellow Guardian for one of the dead and Lightless down here?  
His Ghost floated in for a closer look and when he met eyes with Serenity, a pact was formed instantly to keep quiet and see how this played out for their Guardians. Serenity was already bubbling and trying not to wiggle too much as the Warlock gave Wolf a curious poke. "You think this one has anything interesting to say?"  
Serenity stifled a giggle as the poking jostled Wolf, and a second one roused him from sleep enough to slap at the offending hand. "C'mon, not the face, I said I'd pay you back--"  
The other Guardian jumped back with a start, flailing arms and a creaky shout that caught in his throat, overbalancing and tumbling backwards. He landed square on his rear as Wolf was sitting up and slowly coming back to actual awareness, and Serenity was already laughing, having zipped from her Guardian's hood as he awoke and tumbling with delight through the air beside him.  
"You're _alive?!_ " The other Guardian was clutching his chest, and his shock only prompted Wolf himself to start howling with laughter at the stranger's reaction.  
"Dude! Ohh, _wow._ Wow." Wolf dabbed at a few nonexistent tears as his laughter simmered down to a few lingering chuckles, "Come on, man, I know I was out but I can't have been sleepin' _that_ hard."  
"O-Oh, you were asleep?" The Warlock seemed flustered as he more or less gathered himself up and straightened his gleaming coat. "Ah... S-Sorry. I'm Puck. Uh, Puck-13. This is Oberon." He gestured to his Ghost and then offered the other Guardian his hand to shake.  
"Serenity," chirped Serenity, still feeling the aftershocks of her laughter in soft giggles.  
"Wolf-16," said Wolf-16, holding a fist out to Puck with his face plates arranged into a smile, "You come here to shake that old bastard down, too?"  
"Wolf...?" He'd heard that one somewhere, but Puck shook it off for now. "Um. Yeah, more or less! My team and I got a little bit separated though, so we're trying to meet back up at the top." Puck hesitated only briefly before he bumped the offered knuckles with his own.  
"Yeah, dude owes me fuckin' money, I _swear_ \--"  
"Where's your fireteam? It's pretty dangerous down here alone, especially if you're worn out enough to fall asleep outside a room full of _Vex..._ " Puck leaned his head to the side, but straightened as Wolf suddenly got to his feet without answering the question to stretch.  
"Ahh, man, I shouldn't have fallen asleep there. Shoulder's all sore now. Hey, you got any snacks?" Wolf put his hands on his hips and leaned side to side, then pulled his arms above his head to repeat the motion. He looked a little worse for wear -- kind of raggedy, Puck decided, but he kept that to himself. Dirty gear was hardly the worst of either of their problems.  
The question caught him slightly off guard, but he recovered and moved to stand himself, rifle in hand again. "Snacks?"   
"Yeah. _Snacks._ You know, like, _chips?_ Ingestible things that are usually about palm-sized, no cookin' required, easy access--"  
"Oh! Uh, yeah, I've got... _something,_ I'm sure, hold on," Puck patted himself down, checking his pockets absent-mindedly like this was routine, but his pocket macarena turned up nothing. "Shoot. The others might still have something if you're hungry. It's... definitely important to stay on top of things like that."  
"Ahh, it's fine, I'll manage." Wolf hand-waved that and bent to pick up the face plate of his helmet, slotting it into place. "I still have a little diggin' to do, but hey, man, thanks for the laugh!" He gave Puck's shoulder a firm and friendly smack and before Puck could say anything else, Wolf was off and away, heading deeper into Bray Exoscience.

  
Puck-13 and Oberon exchanged glances as he went, Serenity dissipating along the way. Across the room and down the narrow hall, a white light blossomed into view and shortly afterward, an explosion that rocked the walls around them. Wolf flew backward like he'd been shot out of a cannon and hit the wall with a crack that made Puck and Oberon both cringe. "C'mon, Obe, let's go give this lunatic a hand..."


End file.
